TACLOBAN CITY, (PNA) — Twenty-nine Bottom-up Budgeting (BuB) projects of the Bureau of Fisheries and Acquatic Resources, amounting to P27.71 million preovided by BFAR’s National Fisheries Program, are now benefitting 20 coastal municipalities in Eastern Visayas.
BFAR Regional director Juan D. Albaladejo said that their agency must have been the first to complete BuB projects among all agencies attached to the Department of Agriculture based in the region.
“Some of the projects have been completed as early as June this year. We immediately completed the procurement process to ensure that these projects would benefit poor families before the end of 2013,” Albaladejo said.
Recipients of this year’s BuB projects are the towns of General Macarthur, Llorente and Oras in Eastern Samar; Albuera, Barugo, Matalom and Tanauan in Leyte; Lavezares in Northern Samar; Basey, Calbayog, Calbiga, Catbalogan, Daram, Gandara, Hinabangan, Marabut, Motiong, Santo Nino, Villareal and Zumarraga in Samar.
For Eastern Samar, the projects are on milkfish culture expansion, deep sea fishing, inland fishing, seaweed farming, community resource management, livelihood, and post harvest support.
Funded projects in Leyte are techno demo farms, equipment and lookout tower for sea patrol, fishing boats and fishing gears. In Northern Samar, BFAR augmented seaweeds production and danggit processing.
Samar province, is where the BuB projects had been concentrated in coastal communities which were recipients of motorized boat, multiple set long line, solar dryer, fish sanctuary and marine reserve rehabilitation, alternative livelihood and mussel culture.
BuB is an approach to preparing the budget proposals of agencies taking into consideration the development needs of poor LGUs as identified in their respective local poverty reduction action plans.
“Most of these projects were designed to uplift economic conditions of coastal communities where poverty incidence is as high as 70 percent,” Albaladejo added.
The BFAR official said the average family size in fishing villages is eight to 12 with a monthly income as low as P2,000. The National Statistical Coordination Board said that a family of four needs P7,491 monthly to sustain basic needs.
“Increment weather and high fuel cost prevent fishermen from working every day. What we can do is to provide alternative livelihood for them through BuB,” Albaladejo said.
The region had a share of 11.15 percent of the nationwide budget of P248.56 million for BuB. Eastern Visayas is the fourth region with the highest allocation this year next to CARAGA Region (P31.26 million), Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (P29.70 million) and Region 4-B (P29.19 million).